Ottawa stadium debate: Credit him for chutzpah, nothing else

David Butler is all hat and no cattle.

Determining what to do with Ottawa's stadium issues is hard enough without this wannabe recycling a really stoopid idea which has already been shot down.

"(Butler) has informed the city of his renewed interest, but this time, he wants to start small. He wants to lease the stadium and hold five or six outdoor concerts a year -- which, using Nickelback as an example, he said would generate $350,000 each -- and eventually move toward his larger vision of a domed, state-of-the-art multi-purpose entertainment centre that could house soccer fields, a driving range, pro shops, fitness clubs and restaurants."

Sure. Go tell that to the goat which will be part of the petting zoo you're also planning to fit into his family-friendly Xanadu.

This dude is unreal. Butler is way too light on the details. It is unclear at best what if any involvement he had with the Nickelback concert at the stadium in July 2007, although there's no dispute about who fouled up when the team buses failed to show up at the stadium for the Rapidz' first road trip last season and caused them to be late arriving at the ballpark.

Readers of longer standing (thank you, everyone) will also remember that Butler told people he had backing from the quote, unquote, "Bank of Frank," and we all know how that turned out. Honestly, as someone else said when he first surfaced two years ago with his cockamamie scheme to put $40 million into the site, "What, does he think he's going to discover oil in centrefield?"

At least, as Mr. Kiiffner notes, he isn't trying to claim they sold 42,000 beers in one night, which as best as one can determine, is almost mathematically and physically impossible. The bottom line is that his proposal can still serve a purpose, provided that someone at City Hall is really into origami. The most pragmatic thing to do with the ballpark on Coventry Rd. is to take another stab at establishing an independent-league ballclub in 2010.

Related:
Proposal music to the ears; Stadium's saviour would turn facility into concert venue (Sun Media)